Professional Baseball (Yanks 4, Rays 3)

I thought the Rays were supposed to be "superior"...yesterday they showed their true colors. Rather than a baseball powerhouse, they look more like a pesky, young group of ballplayers, long on talent and short on professionalism. They look like a team of Robinson Cano type players. Plenty of talent and physical ability. Can hit for power and average, with great fielding skills, a light attitude and great energy. However, they make mistakes. They lose focus. Their hitting is talented but unpolished, shown by their inability to be patient, take pitches, extend at bats, slow the game down, and adapt to changing circumstances in the game that demand not just physically amazing but also intellectually brilliant plays. That's the stuff that pros do. And sometimes professionalism wins ballgames too.

No ballplayer exemplifies professionalism more than Jeter, and no team exemplifies it more than the Yankees. Never panicking or getting emotional, Jeter and the Yankees calmly and systematically dismantled the Rays in the last two games of this series, after the craziness of the opening game.

Stoic, calculating, ruthless, and immensely skilled, the Yankees executed all game long. They made extraordinary plays in the field, came back twice, and set the table for Jeter to first score the tying run off of Damon's double, and then drive in Cody Ransom for the winning run with 2 outs in the top of the ninth. Mariano then shut the door.

Under Joe Torre we saw these types of performances all the time. Under Girardi, not as much last year. The difference, though, is that this year the Yankees once again have the deadly combination of
1. 4 consistent starting pitchers
2. A bullpen that shortens the game
3. Hitters that take pitches, reach base and force appearances from the opposition's bullpen before the 7th inning.
4. Clutch hitting if the game is close in the late innings (in years past we had 9 clutch hitters, now some still need to prove themselves)

The Yankees are now 5-4 after a long road trip in which they had to play in three home openings for their opponents. Now they come home to their new ballpark for the grand opening...and the game should be grand. Cliff Lee is pitching, but the Yankees should be able to ride the wave of excitment over their new home to victory.

Rather than a picture, I thought only could do the play justice. This is Jeter turning a double play at 3rd base. Yes, 3rd base.